Hey guys! This is my first fanfiction so enjoy!

Hermione felt refreshed as she woke up from a nap she had been taking. She looked around the room she shared with Luna and instead of Ron in the chair next to her, it was her sister Katie. Before she could say anything Katie said, "Ron and Harry are discussing the disguise with Griphook that you will be wearing at Gringotts."

At that moment, a blinding pain came from the (Mudblood) scar on Hermione's arm. Bellatrix, or "That Damn Arse" as Hermione referred to her, of which Harry and Ron heartily agreed, had given Hermione this scar at their recent at Malfoy Manor. Katie's face went from being relieved to full of deep concern in a matter of milliseconds. Over the pain, Hermione could barely hear Katie say,

"Hermione, are you ok, should I go get Ron?!" Hermione was in so much pain she couldn't think. But she knew that she couldn't let Ron know about this. She hated to look vulnerable around him.

"N-no, please don't," Hermione found herself saying. She didn't want to be a burden to anyone, especially Ron. Then she thought that the best way to clear her head would probably be to go on a walk.

"Can I please go on a walk, Katie?"

"Um, Ron said to not let you out of my sight, but you can go on a walk if you stay within the protective barriers of Shell Cottage."

"OK." Katie slowly helped Hermione out of bed and found the beaded bag. It was enchanted and had an endless vacuum of space inside. It had helped them many times over the last few months. She went down the stairs and outside. Katie followed closely. A thought came to her tired, pained mind that she should go beyond the barrier just so she could have some freedom. After around 20 minutes Hermione came to the edge of the barrier and stepped through it. Katie grabbed at her but she was gone. Hermione had been swallowed by the darkness and Katie couldn't do anything but follow and find her. Hermione hadn't noticed it started raining after she left Shell Cottage, and she was now soaking wet.

But she didn't want to go back now. She wanted to see the beach side forest. She walked and walked until she went over a ridge and saw that she passed a gang of about four or five Snatchers. She was frightened and ran, sending disarming and stunning spells as she went. Some of the Snatchers stayed behind with the wands that Hermione hadn't caught.

She broke all the wands that she caught and just left them on the ground. But there were still at least two Snatchers on her tail. She ran for her life and ran for about 10 minutes when she saw a rock ahead. She decided that she should try and jump over it and hide. When she got to the rock, she jumped, but then her right leg hit it and immense pain shot up it.

She fell over and used her hand to break her fall. The Snatchers saw her fall and caught up with her. For the next long and excruciating 5 minutes, they were punching and kicking Hermione everywhere they could reach. When she couldn't take the pain any longer, the Snatchers stopped and dragged her back to their camp.

Ron closed the door of Griphook's room and wondered whether Hermione was feeling better. Then he knocked on the door of her room. There was no response. He slowly opened the door and whispered "Katie? Hermione? Are you in there?" he opened the door fully and stepped in, everything was normal except, no one was in the room. As he scanned the room he spotted two pieces of parchment. One was blank, and one had a message written on it. Katie had written

"The blank parchment is enchanted to relay messages between it and its identical scrap, which I have. I and Hermione have gone on a quick walk and will be back shortly.

Katie"

Ron turned his head and to his amazement, he saw words forming upon the once blank parchment. He read "Lost...Hermione….gone...don't….follow...prepare."

Ron started toward the door. He went out of Hermione's room and went into his room. Harry was there stretched out on his bed. He saw the look on Ron's face and asked,

"What's up?"

"Hermione's gone."

Harry sat up abruptly. "What?!"

"Katie's lost her."

"Ok, let's go!" Said Harry, grabbing the wand he had stolen from Malfoy.

"Katie said not to follow."

"Damn!"

"Do you know where Ashby is?"

"You mean Katie's dog? Um, I think you can just call her."

"OK, ASHBY, COME HERE!" Five seconds later, a black English Lab puppy came dashing in.

"Hi, Ashby! Who's a good girl?!" Ron said excitedly. Ashby barked in response.

"Well, I think that we should play with Ashby until Hermione and Katie get back so we don't do anything stupid."

At Ron's command, Ashby ran downstairs and skidded to a halt in front of the fireplace. When Harry and Ron came downstairs though, the fire was roaring, and Ashby was asleep on the mat that Fleur had put down for her. Ron sighed,

"Well, that idea is now rubbish. I'm gonna ask Bill if there are any interesting Quidditch books that he has. I'll be like Hermione for once and read to pass the time." This statement made Ron hope that Hermione was ok and out of harm's way. Without another word, Ron went into the kitchen where he found Bill and Fleur cooking dinner. Bill was stirring a pot of beef with a hungry look while Fleur was cutting up some vegetables to put in a salad. Ron thought it was a good thing at that moment because Bill looked like he was ready to eat the beef stew, pot and all.

"Hey, Bill, do you have any good Quidditch books I could read?" Ron asked. Bill eyed the stew hungrily and then looked away.

"Yeah," he replied," I have a couple of good ones. Follow me." Ron hesitated for a moment and then followed his brother to the master bedroom. "Here," Bill said," this is a book that Charlie used to read all the time." The book that Ron now held in his hands was called 'The Best Quidditch Strategies of All Time'.

"I guess it's worth a shot," Ron said, "Oh, and Bill,"

"What?" Bill asked.

"Don't eat any of that stew no matter how much your half-werewolf instincts tell you to eat it. It's for all of us, and I have a feeling we'll need a little extra. Just in case."

"Ok," Bill said indignantly. Ron kept watching Bill as they walked down the stairs to the sitting room. When he jumped the last step, Ashby's eyes popped open and she stared at him.

"Go back to sleep, Ashby," Harry said from his place on the couch. Ron sat next to him and tried to read, but every time his eyes hit the first page he thought of Hermione. After about 10 minutes of this, he decided that a shower would probably be the best thing to help clear his head. So he got off the couch and went up to Hermione's room to get the parchment.

If I bring it to the loo with me, I can find out if Hermione and Katie are back or not and then tell Harry. So he got some pajama pants and a sweatshirt from his rucksack and went into the loo. He set the parchment on the counter nearest the shower so he could get to it quickly. As Ron undressed, he thought about how he should apologize to Hermione when she came back. If she came back.

"Don't think about that" he told himself, "she will come back and she will be fine." As he bathed, he tried to rid his mind of all the potential ways Hermione could get hurt. But to no avail. When he got out of the shower, he noticed that the parchment was glowing. He put on boxers and his pajama pants and read the parchment while he was putting on his sweatshirt. The message on the parchment was short. It said, "We are back….Hermione hurt…Needs care…Open the door quickly." Ron's heart leaped for joy that Hermione was alive. Before he could zip up his sweatshirt he ran full speed down the stairs and jumped the last step.

"Harry, open the front door!" He exclaimed. Harry jumped off of the couch and ran to open it. There stood Katie who was supporting a mud-splattered, rain-drenched Hermione. Ron's heart broke at the sight of her, and he wanted to kill the people who had hurt HIS Hermione.

"Her leg is broken and she's kicked and punched in multiple places," Katie explained. Ron helped Hermione through the door. As soon as they stepped over the threshold, he took off his sweatshirt and wrapped them around Hermione's freezing body. When the warm material touched her skin, she collapsed into him and started sobbing.

Harry closed the door and ran to the medicine cabinet to get bandages and some potions to help Hermione. Ashby had gotten off her pad in all the excitement and was jumping up and down trying to lick Katie's face.

"Hermione, you have to try to stand up so I can help you to a chair, ok?" he said. Hermione tried to stand up but she just doubled over with a cry of pain.

"Hey, look at me. You can do it. I believe in you." Ron tried to encourage her the best he could. Hermione put on a brave face and stood up. She wobbled a bit but Ron held her steady. He led her to the armchair that was nearest the fire. She was still crying a bit but not as much as before. Harry came back with some bandages.

"Ok, Hermione," Ron said, " we are going to try and bandage up your leg as much as possible. Katie is going to do it because she has more experience than Harry and me… I. Hold my right pointer and middle fingers. If it starts to hurt, squeeze them as hard as you possibly can, ok? We will try to make this as painless as possible for you. " Hermione nodded weakly and he could tell she still didn't dare to talk to or in front of him.

"Ashby, sit!" Harry ordered. He knew Ron didn't want Ashby in the way while this happened.

"Ok Hermione, ready?" Ron asked. She took a deep breath and nodded. While Harry placed a splint under Hermione's leg, Katie carefully wrapped her leg with the bandages Harry had gotten. There was some pain from time to time, but only a few seconds each. After Hermione's leg was bandaged, Ron helped her to her feet but made it so Hermione's weight was on her left leg. She almost fell over a couple of times, but Ron caught her before she could fall a few inches. He finally decided that Hermione was tired and needed rest after her little 'adventure'.

"Ok, Hermione," he said, "I need you to put your left arm around my shoulders, or at least try to. Then try to put all your weight on me so I can help you up to your bedroom. Ok?" She did exactly what he had instructed and limped up the stairs with Ron's help. When they got to her room, Ron helped Hermione onto her bed and instructed her to change in some pajamas while he went back downstairs to get her some soup.

As he entered the kitchen though, he heard a sharp cry coming from Hermione's bedroom and sprinted back up the stairs. When Ron got to her room, he saw Hermione kneeling at the base of her bed, and gripping her left arm.

"Hey, Hermione," he asked, "are you ok?" She whimpered as he helped her onto the bed. Hermione had put on a pajama top but still had the soaked jeans on. Ron pulled up her left sleeve gently and saw a word etched into Hermione's beautiful skin. Mudblood. He then realized that this was what she had been doing when she had tortured Hermione.

"Hermione, why didn't you tell me about this when you first found out about it?" Ron asked, his voice etched with concern. "Because I didn't want you to stop liking me because of it." This was the first thing she had said to him since she had gotten back.

"Mione, I will always like you no matter how many horrible-looking injuries you get," Ron said as he helped her into her pajama pants. She winced when he helped her pull up her right pant leg.

"Sorry," he said. As he helped her under the covers, she looked up at him with a look of pure gratitude. Ron sat down in a chair next to Hermione's bed and then he remembered that he needed to get some dinner for her.

"Stay here, Hermione, I need to get some dinner for you. I'll be right back." Ron ran downstairs, got some soup for Hermione, and carefully ran back upstairs. When he came into her room, Hermione was sitting up and looked like she was trying to stay awake.

"Hey, if you're trying to stay awake, it isn't gonna work, because this soup is filled with a Sleeping Draught and you will fall asleep whether you eat it or not."

"You're impossible, you know that?" Hermione said with a tone of submission as she took the soup from him and started to eat it.

"Yeah, I know." Ron replied with a dashing grin. After eating some of her soup Hermione starts to doze off. Ron grabs the soup bowl and quietly slips out of the room. He walks down stairs, puts the soup bowl in the kitchen sink, and starts up the stairs again. He goes back into Hermione's room and settles down in the chair by her bed. He starts to fall asleep, but is suddenly awakened by Hermione's screams.

"No, please, don't hurt them, please!" Hermione pleads to an invisible tormentor. Katie hears screams and dashes up the stairs into Hermione's room.

"Ron what's going on?!" Katie asked him.